Fee-for-Filing Scam Alert

June 27, 2012 at 8:26 PM CDT - Updated June 27 at 9:28 AM

AUSTIN - The Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) warns Unemployment Insurance (UI) claimants to be aware of unethical business operators who may try to charge a fee to file unemployment claims. Filing for unemployment benefits through TWC is always free.

Claimants who sign on for so-called "fee-for-filing" scams:

could later discover unemployment claims were never filed on their behalf.

may have given their Social Security number to someone they believed to be a TWC employee.

TWC officials wants to ensure that UI benefits only go to those who qualify and that no one is taken advantage of by fraudulent business operators illegally posing as a TWC staff member.

UI claimants also are reminded that TWC unemployment specialists never:

make home visits

ask for Personal Identification Numbers (PIN)

use text messages to contact claimants.

Claimants should only give personal information when filing for benefits online at www.texasworkforce.org or when speaking to an unemployment benefit customer service representative on the Tele-Center phone filing system.

It is imperative that UI claimants do not pay for a government service that is free.

The UI program, funded through employer taxes, provides temporary, partial-income replacement to workers who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own. TWC administers and oversees the collection of taxes from employers and the payment of UI benefits to qualified claimants.

To report possible fraud, call the TWC Fraud and Program Abuse Hotline at 800-252-3642.